Father thrown off plane over nappy row

A father told today how he was thrown off a plane after a row over changing his daughter's nappy.

House-husband Michael Belsham was marched off the holiday jet by armed Turkish police and arrested after a dispute with a stewardess.

Cabin staff of the Air Atlanta jet refused to allow his wife Marianne and 10-month-old daughter Sophie to leave the aircraft with him and they had to fly on to London without him.

The incident came after Mr Belsham had to change his daughter's nappy as the plane was about to take off.

Speaking from their home in Abbey Wood, Mrs Belsham, 34, said the experience on Monday night had been "a total nightmare".

"I sobbed the whole way home and Sophie was hysterical," said Mrs Belsham, a copywriter. "I was so worried because the cabin staff would not tell me what had happened to Michael."

The couple claim the argument with an air stewardess broke out when Mr Belsham changed a nappy as the plane prepared to leave Dalaman Airport for Gatwick.

Because the "fasten seat belt" sign was on, he asked the stewardess to dispose of it rather than doing it himself. When she refused, he went to the lavatory with it himself.

At this point, the stewardess is understood to have accused the retired businessman of pushing her as he passed her in the aisle - something he denies.

Then, despite protests from other passengers, the chief cabin staff member, Roy O'Regan, responded to his stewardess's complaint by calling the Turkish police, who arrested Mr Belsham and took him away.

Mrs Belsham added: "I wanted to go with him but cabin staff told me I would be fined if I tried to leave my seat and I had to fly home on my own with a sick baby.

"Despite asking for some assistance from the airline when we landed at Gatwick, I received nothing and had to struggle home alone late at night with our baby and the baggage."

Police later released Mr Belsham without charge and he flew home the next morning. "I offered to apologise even though I didn't believe I had done anything wrong," he said.

"The airline over-reacted and the situation could have been resolved amicably without calling in armed police officers.

"My biggest concern was for my wife and daughter and I'm more upset about the way they were treated."

Mrs Belsham added: "It was our first holiday since Sophie was born and we were celebrating my husband's 50th birthday but it ended up a complete disaster.

"We had spent £1,300 on the holiday but Sophie was ill and spent two days in hospital so we were anxious to get home. "

An Air Atlanta spokesman said: "At this time, we do not have the reports from the crew of this flight. However, it is standard procedure if a crew consider that they have been subject to violence, or if it is threatened, the police are called at the first opportunity.

"We apologise to Mrs Belsham that no one met her at Gatwick but a message was sent to the Gatwick handling agent and we will be asking why it was not acted upon."